Friday, July 3, 2015

Who Were the Mulekites? Part VI

Continuing from the last five posts about the Mulekites, and how Mulek
escaped from Jerusalem and reached the Land of Promise, and how he and his
people joined with Mosiah and the Nephites in the Land of Zarahemla.

For some reason, though the scriptural record makes it clear that both
Zarahemla and his people (the Mulekites) were joyous over Mosiah’s arrival and
learning of the records he brought, and willingly joined together with the
Nephites, insist that these two groups were segregated. As Hobby puts it of an
event many years later (p27), “When
Mosiah II desired the record of Zeniff to be read the Mulekites and Nephites
were gathered into segregated language groups to have the record read aloud in
both languages.” After Zeniff and Alma arrived in the Land of Zarahemla from their
various escapes from the Lamanites, “all
the people of Nephi were assembled together, and also all the people of
Zarahemla, and they were gathered together in two bodies” (Mosiah 25:4). This
was so that Mosiah could read the records of those who had escaped from the
city of Lehi-Nephi in the Lamanite lands. “And Mosiah did read, and caused
to be read, the records of Zeniff to his people; yea, he read the records of
the people of Zeniff, from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until they
returned again” (Mosiah 25:5).There
is no comment that this record was read in two languages, or that the Nephites
and people of Zarahemla (Mulekites) were in separate bodies because of a
language problem. As for the two groups, it was common among the people of God to line up by tribal groups at
festivals, ceremonies, and ordinances—in Book of Mormon times, this would have
been by Nephites, Jacobites, Josepites, Zoramites, etc. (4 Nephi 1:36-38;
Mormon 1:8-9). All this says, is that the Mulekites were also in a separate
lineage body or group. The twelve tribes of Israel were thus segregated most of their
existence, though in much of the Biblical writing, these tribal separations are
not mentioned much, and often the people were combined and listed simply as
Israelites, or after the division, as those of Judah and those of Israel. This
is also seen in the Book of Mormon, as Jacob wrote, he would "not hereafter distinguish them by
these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of
Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people
of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings" (Jacob 1:13).

At the time Mosiah gathered the people together to hear about the
people of Limhi and of Alma, the Mulekites were still considered a separate
tribal group (Mosiah 25:4). However,
these Mulekites became Nephites and were numbered among the Nephites (Mosiah
25:13) as this great fervor of religious identity swept through Zarahemla after
the reading of the Limhi and Alma records (Mosiah 25:7-11). So much so, that the "children of Amulon and his brethren, who had taken to wife the
daughters of the Lamanites, were displeased with the conduct of their fathers,
and they would no longer be called by the names of their fathers, therefore
they took upon themselves the name of Nephi, that they might be called the
children of Nephi and be numbered among those who were called Nephites" (Mosiah
25:12). This is the same attitude the Mulekites had, for they became numbered
with the Nephites (Mosiah 25:13). In
this moment of religious fervor, especially following Alma's religious
preaching to the various bodies assembled (Alma 25:15), Limhi desired to be
baptized along with all his people (Mosiah 25:17). If for no other reason, the
Mulekites wanted to be numbered among the Nephites and called Nephites because "the kingdom had been conferred upon
none but those who were descendants of Nephi" (Mosiah 25:13). From a Religious standpoint: There
were seven churches established throughout the land (Mosiah 26:23), and when
people joined any of the churches, they were called the people of God (Mosiah
26:24), and from this point on, there is never another mention of the people of
Zarahemla (Mulekites) being separated or segregated from the Nephites. From a Political standpoint: When
king Mosiah suggested to his people that there should be no more kings, but
wrote down the points of liberty and how the people should be governed, then
sent his writings among everyone (Mosiah 29:37) they were convinced of his
words. "They were anxious that every
man should have an equal chance throughout all the land" and "they assembled themselves together in
bodies throughout the land, to cast their voices concerning who should be their
judges...and they were exceedingly rejoiced because of the liberty which had
been granted them" (Mosiah 29:38-39). The key words here are "every man had an equal voice," which
shows that the Mulekites and the Nephites were now one people, called the
Nephites. There is no mention after this point that the Mulekites were ever
considered separately, nor is there at any time any mention that the Mulekites
spoke another language after they were taught the Nephite language by Mosiah
(Omni 1:18). Despite all this, there are still those theorists who want to blame the
Mulekite lineage for all the conflicts and difficulties that occurred. As Hobby
goes on to write: “The fact that this
insurrection was Mulekite-led is also confirmed by Alma 62:7-10.” Of
course, when you look up the reference, which not every does, you find a
different story, for there is no indication anywhere of any Mulekite-led
insurrection. "And it came to pass that
Moroni and Pahoran went down with their armies into the land of Zarahemla, and
went forth against the city, and did meet the men of Pachus, insomuch that they
did come to battle (Alma
62:7). And behold, Pachus was slain and
his men were taken prisoners, and Pahoran was restored to his judgment-seat (Alma
62:8). And the men of Pachus received
their trial, according to the law, and also those king-men who had been taken
and cast into prison; and they were executed according to the law; yea, those
men of Pachus and those king-men, whosoever would not take up arms in the
defense of their country, but would fight against it, were put to death (Alma
62:9). And thus it became expedient that
this law should be strictly observed for the safety of their country; yea, and
whosoever was found denying their freedom was speedily executed according to
the law" (Alma 62:10). Obviously, there is no suggestion of a Mulekite-led insurrection here,
but only of a segment of the Nephites who wanted to return to kingship rule.
Yet, that does not stop Hobby who adds: “It seems that the faction
which had supported Paanchi, which was later turned by Gadianton into a
guerilla movement, was Mulekite-based.”

However, there simply is not a single mention of any insurrection,
faction, or movement of Mulekites against the Nephites anywhere in scripture. Once
they joined together (Mosiah 25:13) they are never again mentioned in scripture
as being separated in any manner. Rather
than Mulekite-led insurrections, it seems that in all cases of the infighting
among the Nephites, it was over those who believed in the counsels of Mosiah
and the church, and those who believed in their own counsels and fought against
the church. In every instance these internal wars were over whether the
Nephites continued to have their liberty and freedom or whether they would be
subject to dictatorial rulers and denied their freedom. It would appear from the scriptural record that the Mulekites at this
point became Nephites, as Sam’s posterity had before this, and were considered
a single people. On the other hand, there are two incidents mentioned of a
continued lineage for the Mulekites that is never mentioned for Sam’s
posterity. The first is of Ammon, whom king Mosiah placed in charge of the
sixteen men he sent to the land of Lehi-Nephi to inquire concerning their
brethren (Mosiah 7:2) as being a descendant of Zarahemla (Mosiah 7:3). The
second is of Coriantumr, a descendant of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:15), who “was a
deserter from among the Nephites,” who the Lamanites put in charge of their
army and invaded the Land of Zarahemla and captured the city (Helaman 1:17-20).(See the next post, “Who Were the Mulekites? Part VII,” for the
continuation of this regarding Mulek, the youngest son of Zedekiah, and how he
came to be in the Land of Promise and found the city of Zarahemla, and who were
his descendants and those of his people, and that they were not involved in
insurrections against the Nephites according to the scriptural record)